On Monday morning June 18 a group of unknown armed men crossed the Sinai desert from the Egyptain border and killed an Israeli civilian, before Israeli armed forces arrived on the scene and amidst an exchange of fire, killed two of the armed men. Israeli tanks were deployed on the Sinai border, in breach of the Camp David peace treaty but which regional brigade commander Colonel Tal Hermon considered necessary having avoided “a far worse terror attack.”
The same day four resistance fighters from the Gaza Strip were killed by an Israeli air strike. The Islamic Jihad’s armed wing Al-Quds Brigades lost two of its men, Ismail Abu Awdeh and Mohammad Shabat but have not fired any rockets in retaliation. Ibrahim Abd-elFattah and Abdo Zaanin from Al-Aqsa Brigades were killed, which prompted the armed wing, along with the Popular Resistance Committee and for the first time since April 2011, Hamas’ military wing to fire rockets at the neighboring Israeli settlements the following day.
Three children were killed on Tuesday as Israel continued to fire missiles from the air. Sixteen year old Mohammad Abu Maeliq and Yusuf al-Tilbani from the Meghazi refugee camp were found with their bodies “riddled with bullets” according to Ashraf al-Qidra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson. were murdered as they were walking home from a football field. In a separate case, Hadeel Hadad, barely two years old, was also killed.
Later that night a shaky truce which was to take effect the following morning was frantically worked out between Hamas and Israel, with Egypt acting as the mediator. However, the aerial bombardment of the blockaded Strip did not cease the following day, and as a result 13 year old Ma’moun al-Dam was killed while on picnic with his family on their land between the Zeitoon and Tel el-Hawa neighborhoods. Ma’moun was playing football and was two meters away from where the cluster bomb fell, completely burning one of his arms with his body marked with holes. No missiles were fired from the resistance groups from that area or its surroundings.
The Israeli violence showed no signs of letting up. On Thursday two more men were killed, and Friday witnessed three more men who lost their lives to the Israeli air strikes, thus signalling the end of the truce which Hamas acknowledged as a failure and only pledged to follow as long as Israel withheld its fire. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s armed wing claimed responsibility for a number of rockets fired from Gaza.
On Friday 20 year old Hamam Abu Qaddous died from his wounds after being targeted by an Israeli air strike while riding his motorcycle the previous day. In the Abasan neighborhood of Khan Younis, four year old Ali al-Shawwaf was killed and his father Mu’taz al-Shawwaf was wounded. Three farmers in Beit Lahya were also injured as they worked on their land. Scores of people were injured and brought to the Shifa hospiptal after another Israeli air strike killed 42 year old Osama Mahmoud Ali on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 16 Palestinians since the attacks on Gaza began on Monday. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’ silence regarding the week long bombardment of the Gaza Strip and his refusal to condemn Israel’s disproportionate use of force and targeting of civilians was highly notable.
Another truce mediated by Egypt was signed early Sunday morning, after a night of relative calm and no rockets or missiles fired from both sides. Hamas spokesperson Ayman Taha told Safa News Agency that the deal is based on “calm for calm.” Speaking at the Israeli government weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in typical pugnacity stated that he is prepared to take “strong action against those who are attacking us and it will take even stronger action if need be.”
List of Palestinians killed June 18 to June 24
Ismail Abu Odeh 21
Mohammad Shabat 24
Ibrahim Abdel-Fattah
Abdo Zaanin
Mohammad Abu Mueliq 16
Yusef al-Tilbani 16
Hadeel Haddad 2
Ma’moun al-Dam 13
Ghalib Irmelat
Thaer al-Biq 30
Mohammad al-Khalidi 26
Bassem Ahmad 29
Khaled al-Barai
Qassem Ahmad 24
Hamam Abu Qaddous 20
Ali al-Shawwaf 4
Osama Mahmoud Ali 42